CHORUS:
D A Bm G – F#
Kickin’ down the back streets; people wanna break my stride.
D A Bm G – F#
Everyone has a time when they lose their pride, but…
Bm F# G D
When I’m old and in my chair,
A Bm F# G
Thinking back, looking back,
A D
What will I remember?
D Bm F# G Bb – A – D
All the good times — they were all right…

(Intro)

VERSE:
When every morning brings
A struggle just to get up from the bed…

CHORUS (once)
(different chords for last line, as below:)
D Bm F# G A(hold) D
All the good times — they were all right… Do-do-do, do-do.

** These chords and lyrics are interpretations and transcriptions, respectively, and are the sole property of the copyright holder(s). They are posted on this website free of charge for no profit for the purpose of study and commentary, as allowed for under the “fair use” provision of U.S. copyright law, and should only be used for such personal and/or academic work. **

Hello and welcome to the second installment of a double header here at the Laptop Sessions, two sessions in honor of Marcy Playground singles, both past and present. Tonight I’m standing in for Jim, who’s away for one more week on his honeymoon. I can only imagine what kinds of photos and songs he’ll bring back with him from his exotic — yet domestic — locale for next week’s Jim Fusco Tuesday. Don’t miss it!

My cover song music video tonight is from Marcy Playground’s latest album, Leaving Wonderland… in a fit of rage, just released last month. “Good Times” is a song about accepting whatever difficulty or hardship you may face and moving on from there. He invokes the classic phrases, “It’s all right” and “This too shall pass,” and although the lyrics are extremely simple, “Good Times” has a Jack Johnson-esque feel-good vibe to it and I enjoyed playing it.

My one hesitation in endorsing this as a great track is that lead singer John Wozniak refers to himself twice in the song. (I tried inserting my name into my version, but it just didn’t feel right…) In the first bridge, he refers to himself both as “Woz” and “John.” Initially, this was distracting for me. Then I realized, after playing it over and over again before recording my session today, that his personal reference works in the context of the song as a whole. In the first half of the song, he’s essentially singing a song about and for himself. By the end of the song, however, he refers much more generally and universally, inviting all people to join him in appreciating the “good times” and dealing positively with the bad.

Right about now, I think all three core members of the Laptop Sessions are enjoying the good times. After all, Jim is on his honeymoon and Jeff and I are on summer break from school. Sure, life is always going to be busy for guys like ourselves who are constantly working and writing and playing, but that only makes our leisure time all the more enjoyable and relaxing.

Speaking of free time, I’m off to do laundry and vacuum!

Seriously, though, I hope you’ll come back soon for all-new sessions, starting with Jeff’s “Thumpin’ Thursday.” As for me, I’m picking up some real creative steam now that the moving process is complete and the summer is in full swing. I’m working on finishing my third poetry book (FINALLY!), a couple novels (which translates to a lot of writing, jumping back and forth, and thus a very slow process), and songwriting for my next album (I’ve written eight songs in the past three weeks that I’m very proud of — I think some of these are the best songs I’ve ever written, and I’m anxious to find a way to translate them to tape or, in this day and age, to computer).

This all adds up to some great new updates by the fall and some new Original Wednesdays for me in the near future. For now, though, if you’re interested in hearing what my new material sounds like, you can check out a file that I “tweeted” a few weeks ago: CLICK HERE. The song is called “Work Time, Get In Line,” and it’s a taste of what it sounds like when I tinker around with GarageBand, my MacBook’s built-in mic, and my Fender acoustic guitar.

Here’s my second entry for “Original Wednesday” here on the Laptop Sessions. By the way, did you notice we now have www.laptopsessions.com? Give it a look!

“Marie” has always been one of my favorite Chris Moore songs.

Every time we play this in concert (which has been MANY times), I always look forward to it. Of course, this version is without the dueling harmonica and guitar solos, but I think the song stands up on its own (the mantra of the Laptop Sessions).

Chris always thought of this song as an experiment for him because he had never really written a love song before quite like this. Truly, when he wrote it, he didn’t even have any real inspiration. But, Chris is a professional writer and this song shows that he didn’t need a real “Marie” to show he could feel this way.

In concert I’ve previously done a very slow version of this song. But for the Laptop Sessions version, I wanted to keep it true to the original- the one I heard in the background on Chris’ car CD player that really started it all. Once I heard this song, we started to think that a band might be possible. See http://jimfusco.com/albums.html for the rest of the story…

The second half of my “Original Wednesday” kicks off the holiday season with an original Christmas song!

I wrote this song at least five or six years ago, probably more.

I could never play it right on the piano, so when I learned guitar, I switched the main instrument. I’ve always been proud of the repeating chorus at the end. You HAVE to hear the version I did with MoU bandmates Chris Moore, Mike Fusco, and Becky Daly on our album, “Our Christmas Gift To You”. You’ll love it- we all sing on the chorus at the end and it sounds great! Check it out at http://jimfusco.com

Anyway, I’ll be adding many more Christmas songs over the next few weeks, so if you have any holiday favorites, please drop me a line or leave a comment and I’ll be glad to fulfill the request!

Christmas time is my favorite part of the year. This week of Thanksgiving is so exciting, and it seems like every day there’s something to do. For instance, tomorrow, I’m having “the guys” over late at night. Then it’s Thanksgiving. Then I’m waking up incredibly early to go Black Friday shopping with friends. Then my cousin Sarah is sleeping over at my condo on Saturday, ready to watch multiple Christmas/Jim Carrey movies. Then after that, I’m finally free to listen to all my favorite Christmas radio shows I’ve done with my best friends of all time on WCJM.com Free Internet Radio.